Travel stamps (10)

Answers (296)

I just got back from a month in the UK and took my iPhone with me. The first thing I did was remove my Australian Telstra SIM card to avoid massive roaming charges.
Next, I bought an O2 SIM and put 15 pounds pre-paid credit on it. The offer they had during April/may 2010 when I was there was: 15 quid got me:
* 500 free texts within a month
* FREE 3G data for a month
* 15 pounds of phone calls.. quite expensive rate.
The free data inclusion was the best bit - I used Skype on my phone to make overseas calls, got all my email for a month and used the Maps system to navigate through London and on roadtrips up the Wales and Scotland. Much easier than a road atlas!
I found the o2 coverage quite good; especially in the cities and only lost it on the longer trips in between towns - maybe if you're hiking in remote areas this is a problem, but as we were mainly travelling by car, it was fine.
In terms of topping up the pre-pay, I just went to a local shop and paid 15 quid in cash - there are literally 1000's of places you can do this like petrol stations, supermarkets etc. over 8 years ago

do you mean 'Dim Sum"? In Sydney, this is generally called 'Yum Cha' - loads of restaurants in China Town if you want to wander around and find some you like. Some of my faves are Marigold (top floor, corner of George and Hay Streets) and Zilver (477 Pitt St, level 1). about 6 years ago

Hi Cameron, I always wanted to travel and so finished Uni in Australia and then headed to Japan for a year to work, then onto to Uk/Europe for 6 months. I was 21. Of course stepping onto the plane was terrifying and teary, but my parents encouraged me. This was back in the days before Facebook, email and mobile phones which make it easy to stay in touch with family - all they got in that time was about 6 postcards.
I discovered so much about myself that proved really useful and grounding in years to come... I'm not actually all that shy. Just prefer to listen than talk all the time. But staying in hostels forces you to have conversations and meet people. I thought this would be the hardest bit, but actually it's quite easy.
I also discovered that although I'm quite organised in my life, travel is a fantastic chance to make it up as you go along. I much prefer to travel without an itinerary and just a few good ideas of where to go. This has shaped the kind of trips and holidays I still take today... even with two kids in tow.
And one last thought. I was nervous as anything stepping onto that plane. But did it anyway. You can't make the nerves disappear - just let them be present, and do it anyway. If you can learn how to live with that knife edge feeling of nerves/excitement, it comes in very handy later in life when you need to make a speech, go bungy jumping... over 5 years ago